The England Job

The talk in the football world currently is about who should become the next England manager. This is after Fabio Capello resigned from the post last night. Indeed, news of his resignation came as a shock to many, including the writer. Granted, the relationship between the Capello and his employers the FA over the past few days have been anything but rosy. Still, last night’s events were rather strange considering England are just around four months away from a major tournament, the Euro Championships in Poland and Ukraine. And all this stemming from the FA’s decision to strip off the captaincy from John Terry! Well, well, well…

Much as we would like to analyze and dissect Capello’s time in the most demanding job in world football, focus really should be about getting the right man to replace him. Apparently after the 2010 World Cup it was decided by consensus that the next England manager should…actually, would have to be English. The logic behind this surely eludes The Dug Out, but that’s just how it is. As expected during such an occurrence many names have been floated, but the overwhelmingly hottest favorite for the job is (and has been for a while), current Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp.

Sure, Harry is the best English manager there currently is. But really, why restrict the job to an Englishman? Does it mean foreign managers (Scottsmen included) are just that bad or just incapable? Or is it that English coaches are that tactically superior? The Dug Out vehemently disagrees, but then again maybe it’s because The Dug Out is not English. By creating that exclusivity, the English are greatly (and dangerously) limiting themselves and curtailing the chances of their national team progressing to the next level. At this point, it is interesting to note that since the inception of the English Premier League, no English manager has ever guided a club to the title.

Whenever there’s a vacuum in any team’s coaching/managerial position, the obvious top priority is to find a suitable replacement. It’s no rocket science at all. But just what is a ‘suitable replacement’? A manager of predominantly the same qualities, age and experience? Maybe. A manager of lesser experience and age, more of a new kid on the block  maverick? Maybe. At the end of the day everybody, and more so the appointing authority has their preferences. That’s what makes one team different from another, right? For The Dug Out its simple: get a better man for the job. That’s just it! Always get someone that is better than the one you previously had. That is improvement…and football (and  sport) is all about moving up one level to the next.

Harry Redknapp is a great manager, make no mistake about that. What he’s done and achieved with Tottenham is nothing to be scoffed at. Four years ago he took over a Spurs that had ‘relegation’ written all over them and transformed them into a title-challenging force that they are today. In this time, he has guided them to Champions League qualification for the very first time in their history, where they embarked on a fairytale run to the quarter finals including that unbelievable night at the San Siro. No other English manager has a resume and pedigree as this and that’s why it’s only logical that people would be clamoring for the job to be given to Harry. In all fairness though, Capello, before being appointed England manager had achieved a whole lot more than this (multiple Serie A titles, La Liga honors and European triumphs). Is Harry Redknapp better than Fabio Capello? No.

We are in a world where Spain, the Netherlands and Germany (not necessarily in order) are the most technically gifted and tactically supreme teams in football. Question is, does England want to be at that level? Do they want to be counted in the same breath as this elite triumvirate? Does hiring a native manager ensure this happens? Basically it all boils down to ambition. Just how ambitious are English coaches? Certainly their insistence in employing a 4-4-2 formation (Harry included) does raise eyebrows (and if it doesn’t, it should). This is at a time when the three best European teams named above all have drastically modified their game to a dynamic system similar to if not 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-3-2 or basically 4-3-3. Oh, and they are devastatingly effective on the pitch, cue Germany’s ruthless demolition of England in the 2010 World Cup.

It is not The Dug Out’s prerogative to appoint the next coach of England and he’s quite ok with that. Moreover, he’s grateful it is not under his jurisdiction, but if it were up to him, he would certainly look beyond England and indeed England’s best, Harry Redknapp.

The Dug Out.